Dec 08 2008
Playing With Regular And New Players
I had my regular game this past weekend and as always I’ve got a couple of hands to replay. One was between myself and a couple of the other regulars from the group (I.E. I’ve got a good handle on how they play) and another was with someone new to the group (I.E. I’ve got no clue how he plays). Looking back I think I made two bad plays and one of them cost me dearly.
Hand #1
I’m in the big blind and there are two callers (one off the button and the small blind). I’m a pretty talkative player (when I know the players I’m playing with) and this was a pretty jovial table. I made a comment the first player limping into my big blind and he asked if I was going to raise. I said no and he called. The small blind completed and I decided to check dark (being the honest poker player I am 
) There were a couple of comments about “friendly poker” and we were off to the flop. The flop came out:
and the small blind (who was the short stack) moved all in for around $950 more. At the time I had about $3,000 or so and only had a big blind in the pot (which was $600). I of course said something along the lines of “oh sure, make me look at my hand” and then looked down to find Aces. I figured she could have anything at this point but I was guessing my Aces were good. I decided to call and the first limper went into the tank and I got really worried. Knowing him he very well might have limped with Twos or Eights (but more than likely NOT Jacks). He thought for quite a while and he eventually laid his hand down. I retrospect I definitely should have raised to isolate. She of course showed me a Jack and then promptly hit trips on the turn to crack my Aces.
Hand #2
About an hour and a half later I had worked myself into a middle stack ($3,700 or so) and looked down to see Sevens on the button. There was one limper (who I had never played with) when it got back to me. Blinds at the time were $250/$500 with a $50 ante so I decided to pop it up to $1,500 to go. The blinds folded and the limper promptly moved all in. Looking back he moved in WAY too quickly to be bluffing but at the time I didn’t pick up on it. My thinking was that I had $1,500 of my remaining $3,700 in the pot already and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let nearly 50% of my stack go to a bluff. Before I really thought through it I called only to see his pair of Queens be turned up. I didn’t catch the set that I needed and that was the end of my day.
In retrospect he made a really nice play limping with Queens. If I had more time to think through it I still may have called and busted but I’m upset with myself that I didn’t take some more time to at least consider the possibility of folding. It would have left me with around $2,000 which would just about qualify for “all in or fold” mode but that would have been better than playing dealer’s choice at the cash table. Oh well… as they say, that’s poker.
See you after the flop!
